On board for the trip are pilot Doug Hurley and commander Mark Polansky (front row, left and right), along with (back row L-R) astronauts Dave Wolf and Christopher Cassidy, and mission specialists Julie Payette of the Canadian Space Agency, Tom Marshburn and Tim Kopra.

STS-127 features five planned spacewalks to fit the Japanese lab extension. NASA elaborates: "The facility will provide a type of 'front porch' for experiments in the exposed environment, and a robotic arm that will be attached to the Kibo Pressurized Module and used to position experiments outside the station."

At the end of the 16-day mission, Tim Kopra will remain aboard the ISS as a flight engineer and science officer, while Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata - who's been aloft since arriving aboard Discovery on STS-119 mission back in March - will return to Earth on Endeavour.

NASA has the main STS-127 site here, a mission overview here and a mission summary here (pdf). JAXA's dedicated Kibo site is here. ®